Decatur Democrat, Volume 24, Number 20, Decatur, Adams County, 19 August 1880 — Page 4

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?' i_'3LL“*n«i 1 able them to carry Mie State. Mr. McCi.key needs no corroboration where he is Known. If he did he would have it most amply in the letter of Walker to Adams. He would also have it in the testimony of tmarles H. Stoddard, another republican citizen of Terre Haute, who made the following statement on this point before the committee: Q. Do you know Paul McCloskey, who was exam* ined here as a witness from Terre Haute? A. Ido, sir. Q. State whether you were present when Mr. McCloskey and Mr. Walker, the colored mail agent at Terre Haute, who carries the mail from the post* office to the depot, bad a conversation ou tho subject of the Nashville convention of colored people and also on the subject of bringing negroes into tho State of Indiana for political purposes? A. I did hear a conversation in regard to something on that question. Q. Just state what it was that you heard, A Homing up Main street going west Mr. Walker railed to Mr. McCoskey, aud I wished to see him myself, and came up abou the same time; he was a little before me, and I waited; and he spoke about the Nashville convention being a good one. Q. Who spoke that? A. Mr. Walker, the mail agent, spoke of it. Q. Yes? A. And said that he had made ments to bring some colored men into the State, and he also stated the number, but I have forgotten how many thousands he said. Q. It was thousands, was it? A. Yes; from ten to twelve thousand, I think, (X could not say. the exact uumbanj to carry the State at tbe election. Q. F»r what party? A. The republican. Q. What further conversasation took place between them? A. That was about all the conversation that took place, I believe, as near as I cun remember. <• « <■ e • Q- Mr. Stoddard, what are your politics? A. I am a republican, sir. It is only necessary to add, so far as Walker is concerned, that with all his conduct fully known he is still in office and enjqgs in a high degree tbe favor and confidence of the leaders of his party; and he has received no word of rebuke or condemnation for his course, even from the Republican press of Terro Haute or of any place < Ise, but, on the contrary, has been warmly defended in everything he has done or tried to do. EFFORT TO TURN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTY. Allow me to turn now to another objective point of negro importation into Indiana. The County of Shelby is held in high appreciation by tbe Democratic party of the State because of her reliable Democratic majority, and for the same reason she is an object of hatred and evil machinations on the part of the leaders of the Republican party. As a consequence of this a column ot colored importation was headed across her oorders. In the language of Pharisaical Republican cant she was to be redeemed and her civilization raised to a higher plane. To show that the villainous plot was fully understood by the leading mou of the Republican party in Shelby County I have simply to read from the testimony of Scott Ray, Esq., one of the most gifted and respected men of rhe State, on page, 322 of part 1 of the evidence His evidence is as follows: * <••><■# [The witness produced a paper.] *• ■> * o o * * Q. Now, will you please read that paper ? The witness read the paper, as follows: “I bad a conversation with Captain Henry S. Byers, ex-chairman of the Republican Central committee of Shelby county, on Sunday night, January 25,1880, in the city of Shelbyville, in the presence of Edward Small and George M. Goulding, two of the leading merchants of the city, in which Mr. Byers said: ‘There is no disguising the fact, Ray. the exodus movement of the colored men to Indianaisapolitical movement of the Republican party, as I know it to bo a fact. Weintend to carry Indiana with the aidu?f the negro vote ; and if the Republican party had taken my advice six yearaago they would have set the movement on foot and brought them here long ago. We intend to bring eight thousand of them into the State in time for them to vote this fall, aud will place them in the close congressional districts and into the close counties of Indiana. Whihsitisrather expensive, it is cheaper for the party than to be compelled to buy votes ou the day of election, as we havoalwayshad todo.* Tasked him if he was in a position to know whether itwasaa organized effort on the part of the Republican managers to bring them into the State for political purposes, and he said he was, and then produced a letter with the headingof the Republican State Central committee printed upon it, but refused to read its contents. I asked him if he had contributed any money for the purpose of bringing the negroes who had lately come ' into Shelby county, and he replied : 'l’tw; J ccntrib- -_■< ■ « 11 / wns ‘.o cod tri l>fi _ Mr. Ryi'i * ess-v-

‘ Greencastle and to Terre Haute. It was no casual or accidental meeting between Morris and Horton, as men meet on the street. Morris says he “catrfa down I and inquired of me how much it would cost to send these people to Greencastle and Terre Haute.”/ A general talk on the subject ensued; the number already arrived and the probable number yet to come were discussed. Will it be presumed that Horton was doing all this on individual account? On tbe contrary, when General Conway’s testimony was remembered, implicating Mr. New, the chairman of the Republican Mate Central Committee, tho inference is irresistible that the slerk of this committee was acting under his instructions in ascertaining how much money was likely to be needed in locating these people after their arrival at Indianapolis in the close or doubtful Democratic counties in the State. In the light of all the proof no candid man can doubt that Reynolds, the mail-carrier, relied upon the Republican State Central Committee for the means to carry out tho work he was instructed to do; and there is just as little doubt that the prompt response te the demand for 8625, transportation funds, came from tho same source. THE POST-OFFICE BEI’ARTMENT TAKES A HAND. What next, however, do we find as evidence of a political sviieme to colonize negroes in Indiana in the interest oi the Republican party? Almost every Federal official in the State has tiiken an active interest in it. The Post-Office Department and the postal service generally seems to have been placed at its disposal. This is most natural. The Department has agents on every railroad and officials at almost every station in the United States. Its xneans for promoting and facilitating an emigration like tbe one under consideration are vast and widespread, and they have not been idle in this instance. The post-master at Indianapolis, Colonel William R. Holloway, one of the most efficient Republicans in the State, put his hand to the work. A colored man by the name of A. W Heath, from Lenoir County, North Carolina, reached Indianapolis, and after sojourning there a few days was seized with a desire to visit Greencastle. When he arrived at Greencastle he met Moses T. Lewman, the sheriff of the County, and in speaking of the kindness extended to him told Lewman that ho had come over in the mail-car free of charge. This was a criminal violation on tbe law on the part of the mail agent in that car, but it appears that Heath bad equipped himself before starting with bizh authority for all hie movements. Colonel Holloway had given him two small slips of paper full of meaning. They will be found on page 18'.) of tbe first volume of the evidence. On one was written, ‘‘Union depot, mail office, Reynolds.” This was a direction to the negro who could read and write to call on Reynolds at the mail office in the Union depot for a start. On the other paper was written the following: “Postmaster Langsdale, and Mr. Clay, colored, at Greencastle, Putnam County, on the Terre Hants Railroad. Private. Tell these gentlemen more are coming.” And on the back of this paper is written, in a wellknown hand, “Holloway, P. M.” Heath was thus commended by Holloway, postmaster, to his brother postmaster, Langsdale. aud to Mr. Clay, a colored preacher, engagedin sending false and sensational circulars to the South to induce coloreu emigration to Indiana. Heath was also instructed to tell Langsdale and Clay that more were coming, and the whole thing was then marked “private.” “Tell these gentlemen more are coming.” Yes; more were coming and Colonel Holloway and all his prominent political associates at Indianapolis not only knew the fact as he here states, but they were engaged in bringing them. Do these papers, given by Holloway to the negro, Heath, appear to have emanated from one who was ignorant of the colored emigration to Indiana or opposed to its success? The very reverse is true. They prove conclusively that there was a plan arranged, a conspiracy organized, whose future operations were known to the writer, and that ho was engaged with others in laboring to advance the cause They show that Langsdale, in his open and shameless avowal in his paper that negro colonization was necessary and proper in order to defeat the democratic party in Indiana, had the full confidence and zealous co-operation of the most prominent leaders of his parly. Instead of their condemnation, he received confidential wonts of warm encouragement. "Private. Tell those gentlemen more are coming ” Let these watchwords of a nefarious conspiracy to outrage the people of Indiana, debauch her ballot Lox, and degrade her laboring men and women by an association with the pauper blacks of the secrets of such plots as this tirst always kept with the ulmost care, bat here and there a

I population which was on its way there, knowing that th©re whh no natural demand for th© negro in (hat State and no call for his labor, aud knowing also that tho negro himself would have so decided but for a wholesale deception practiced on him, I next took into consideration the State of North Carolina, tho second circumstances of the two I have just men tioneil. I did not believe that the kindly-tempered aud conservative people of North Carolina had made fugitives of large bodies of their colored countrymen by injustice and cruelty. No such bad reputation, or even the taint of it, clung to that old and honored State. On the contrary, she has been known as perhaps the most considerate, thoughtful, and benevolent of all tho Southern States in her care and provision for the colored race. Why, therefore, a rush of negroes should be made from her humane borders, and from her climate and soil so adapted to their temperament and habits, was a mys—tery which could ouly be solved fairly to the colored people and fairly to the white race of North Carolina by a thorough investigation. Let us now see what that investigation still further established a., to the real motives which governed the origin and the origin and conduct of the negro exodus.

e the negro to go to Indiana, both on tho ground of hfs usefulness and bis merits. I Q. Both as a laborer aud as a voter ? A. Yes, sir. , GENERAL CONWAY ON CROSS-EXAMINATION. And still further, when this most conspicuous aud e active evangelist of the exodus was under examinai tion by the Senator from Minnesota, be testified in res gard to the plot against the people of Indiana in the following explicit terms: : o. Q . Ue ‘ t . io J\, 1 ’ 0 you knowofany effort tocolonize any State with Negro voters? Answer. There has been ! some talk about it, and I have been trying to carrv Indiana by their aid. J e y Q. What have you done in that direction? A lencouraged as many of them to go there as I ceuld—first because I believed they could get good wages, and second, to help out the Republican cause and raise the negro to a higher civilization. I think he is a good Republican and a good loyal citizen, and should be allowed to vote; therefore I have not liked the idea to exclude politics from the exodus. I thing the negro ought to go where he can do the most good for himself end the Republican party. Q. Hasn’t it been something of a failure rather—

tb» following testimony of the General’s before the committee becomes luminous with moaning: Q. You visited Indiana on that trip, did you not? A I stopped at Indianapolis on my way. Q. You made some pleasant acquaintances there I hope ? A. I did, sir. Q. Whom did you meet? A. A number of the citizens. 1 knew some parties there; and some I did not know I made the acquaintance of while I was there. Q. How long did you remain there ? A. I think three days. Q. During that time you saw Mr. Martindale, the editor of the Journal ? A. I believe I did. Q. You saw Mr. Nww, the chairman of the Republican State committee ? A. I saw Mr. New ; I don’t know whether he was the chairman of the Republican State committee or not. Q. Did you know Colonel Dudley? A. The name is familiar to me, but 1 do not remember meeting him Q. Do you know Colonel Holloway, the postmaster? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you know Colonel Streight, a candidate for governor there? A. No, sir; I knew hirn by name but not personally. y. Well, General Conway, you know we have a prying curiosity in this committee. I want to know of you now why you staid there these three days? A. Vvell, sir, I was tired, and the journey was a tiresome one, and Indianapolis is a pleasant city, and I wished to see what could be done regarding these laborers as to getting employment for them, and I thought these gentlemen would know about that as well as anybody I could find. | Q. Did you meet with any reasonable encourage- “ afL A - J”’ slr; a good d ea‘ of >t. I was told, .fn . came in there - that five or ten thus sand eould hnd employ ment in Indiana Q. ftWu that the opinion of these gentlemen? A. Yes, sir, I think it was. I also met two or three S“ akel £ , tber ®> and on » of them said he had been through the State, and he showed me a long list o‘ ua “ 88 ™ o^far ?“ erß who wwoldu ld give them employment.' y. Then it was not disguised between you and these gentlemen that it would be of political advantage to the State, as well as these negroes themselves to bring them there, was it? A. Not at all, sir; I so regarded it, and I think so still. Q. And so did they? A. Yes, sir. y° ur »tand-point, you thlnkrit is UnTubredlyXsir 11 *" 1^ 11 E * publicaas? A. th?;? np °m’. t *“ the same llKkt.did lot; I think they did7 ™ to °“ if “*** did Y f,? 1 8 . P l Ok ° of go, ng to Saint Louis and IndianiCSiaAapoHs. retUrui “* her ® ? A. I returned to

THE EXODUS INVESTIGATION. Senator Voorhees’ Great Speech on the Importation ot North Carolina Negroes. That Portion of the Speech of Senator Voorhees Relative to the Movement Into Indiana—Delivered in the United States Senate, June 4, 1880. senator windom’s connection with it. Sir, I have kuowu the Senator from Minnesota [Mr. WindoaiJ many years, and I hold him in the most perfect respect and esteem. In assigning to him, therefore, the principal authorship es the colored exodus, with all its consequences, he will understand that I do so in the spirit of absolute personal good-will and friendship. On the 16th of January, 1879, he introduced into this body the following resolution: Resolved, That with aview to a peaceful adjustment of all questions relating to suffrage, to the effective enforcement of constitutional and natural rights, and to the promotion of the best interests of the whole country, by the elimination of sectionalism from politics a committee of seven Senators be appointed by the Chair and charged with the duty of inquiring as to the expediency and practicability of encouraging and promoting by all just and proper methods the partial migration of colored persons from those States and Congressional Districts where they are not allowed to freely and peacefully exercise and enjoy their Constitutional rights as American citizens into such States as may desire to receive them and will protect them in said rights, or into each Territory or Territories of the United States as may be provided for tbeir use and , occupation; and if said committee shall deem such ™ iljration expedient and practicable that they report by bill or otherwise what in their judgment is the < most offvctiye method of accomplishing that object; . and that said committee have leave to sit during the recess. ° a

, THE PLOT THICKENS. 1 In connection with the movement after it was . fully launched and under way the evidence of a poi litical plot thickens and deepens on all sides. Take the testimony of William B. Tinney, the passenger i agent of the Baltimore aud Ohio railroad at Indi--3 anapo.'is. A party of colored emigrants had reached Washington City, and were hero stranded for tbe want of money to carry them further. Mr. Tinney swears that thereupon be received a telegraphic dispatch from Mr. Koontz, the passenger agent of the same road at this point, instructing him to , collect tbe sum < f 8625 to pay for the transporta- , tion of these negroes from Washington to Indianapolis. He was instructed to call upon three actr ive Republican colored politicians in order to obtain this money. He did so. They did not have the money that evening, but it was promptly raised the next day, placed to the credit of negro transportation, and the negroes were promptly landed in Indiana. There is not an intelligent person in Indianapolis who for a moment believes that the colored people of that city raised this very considerable contribution among themselves. Their slender resources were already sorely taxed for charity in behalf of tbe destitute of their own race. They were id no condition to promptly pay down 8625, nor does any one pretend they did. Every circumstance goes to prove that it was paid by the Republican State central committee. FEDERAL OFFICERS ENGAGED IN THE WORK. In proof of what 1 have been stating 1 invite attention to the testimony of L. C. Morris, of Indianapolis. After describing himself as a railroad passen-ger-agent to solicit emigration business, he furnishes the following piece ot interesting information: Q. Mr. Morris, state to us what you know of money being raised to send negroes to Greencastle by Mr. Reynolds. A. I learned that there was a party coming through, and I was interested in having them corne over the Vandalia road. I found that Reynolds had something to do with it, and I said to him that I wanted them to go that way. 1 wanted him to give me the numbers of the tickets. He said he would give them to me, and he did so. Q. How many tickets did he give you the number of? A. Os twenty-seven tiekets. Q, He gave you the numbers and he gave you the tickets? A. No, sir, I asked him to give me the tickets and their numbers. It was necessary to show up the business over tbe lines of road; and that was the only way in which we could do it. B. Do you think you were instrumental in getting them to go over that road? A. I hoped to be so. Q. I mean did you get them to go, or did Reynolds get them? A. Well, sir, I was talking to Perry and others to go over that road, and Reynolds d’id not seem to care which way they went. I tried to influence them to go over that road, and they went. Q. Mr. Morris, what number of tickets did "he furnish you? A. He did not furnish me the tickets; he furnished me the numbeis ot twenty-seven full tickets. Q. Where did he get those tickets’ A. He purchased them at the Union depot. Q. Ho bought them? A. Yes, sir. Q. With his own money? A . I do not know, sir where tbe money came from. I saw him at the window, and afterward ho oame and gave me the number. <l. He is the railroad transfer mail agent there is he not? A. Yes, sir.

your trying to get them to go to Indiana? A. Yes, sir; I think no. I have been desirous to see a good many of them go in there. I wanted to see the Democrats beaten, and I wanted the negroes to go in there and help do it. Q. How many voters do you suppose have gone in there? A. If all had gone whomladvised togo there would have been fifteen or twenty thousand. THE UNDI ÜBTHD DESIGN OF THE MOVEMENT. Must I pause to dwell upon and enforce the conclusive character of such testimony as this? Who now will prate of the absence of proof that the emigration of negroes into Indiana was a political scheme known, planned, fostered, and carried on by the leaders of the Republican party? General Conway was not my witness; he is a Republican of stalwart proportions a prime mover in theexodus agitation, following closely in the wake of the speech of the Senator from Minnesota. Oqtoi the mouths of their own political friends and associates the now revealed conspirators against the right, the sovereign right of the people of Indiana to govern themselves without the assistance of imported pauper negroes, stand naked and condemned. What answer has been made or can be made? General Conway says that the plan so far as Indiana is concerned has been a failure; he says he wanted negroes nough there to defeat the Democratic party; and advised that fifteen or twenty thousand should be colonized in that great State, and in the absence of something like that number ho concedes that hrs missionary labors for the Republican party in the matter of negro importation has not been a success. The failure of this unworthy undertaking, however, is not due to any amount of zeal or uuscrupulous industry on the part of its authors. It has failed as a political conspiracy because it has been exposed by an honest, active, aggressive investigation. It was only dangerous while it was comparatively in the dark. A scheme so unnatural and nefarious perishes when dragged to the light, of day. Those engaged in it are crippled and rendered powerless by the scorn and contempt of the public as soon as they are disclosed by reliable evidence. Mendenhall’s testimony. But leaving at this point the overwhelming, crushing testimony of General Conway, I proceed to other facts which establish the existence of an infamous political plot to subvert the will of the people of Indiana by the procurement of an olyectionable negro population. Among the earliest witnesses called before the conjmittee was H. W. Mendenhall, of Wayne County, Indiana, and now in Government employment in this city. He was a member of the original emigrant aid society founded in this city, and was placed on the committee to audit accounts. It was understood that he had made a significant speech at the first or second meeting of the society and tbe following is a portion of his testimony when called before the exodus committee: Q. Didn’t you state in your speech that as these negroes were going to emigrate you would like to have a large number of them tOcome to Indiana? A. Yes sir; I knew that a great number of them, if not all,’ voted the Republican ticket, and I would like amazingly to see them come there, just tho same as you -‘Mi'i’,’ Ir ,i Mh co,nin “ there because they generally

About day. ° U 8 the second time? A. y. 2; sk. id you “ eet SOlue ofthe Bame ? a. Q. Did you find thenegroes arriving at Saint Louis *•*-■•* not to send any more to Kausas-that many *of them were wanted in Indiana, Illinois and othel- Stated ' ' there. * W ° Ul<l be Q. Did yon report to these gentlemen tn apolis that you bad met and encouraged these neonle 1 to come to Indiana? In other did you f? ! form them of what you said to that committee ai htea had 1 J n,r,l “ r f-k I IHK POSITIVE PROOF OF CONSPIRACY. c Sir, it has been iterated and reiterated until the ! very air is weary of the falsehood that no proof has t bo “"r“? de beto . r ® tbe committee inculpating the lead- f ers of the republican party of Indiana as conspirators to overthrow the democratic majority in that by an importation of negro voters. Men have b-. e hung andjustly hung on evidence far less conclu- vof crime than is here submitted against the mos. g prominent men of the republican party of Indiana » br'JkeT noHticai ra f “ atteni l )t rescue theii' s elem:“t P o of“h 0 f“he C BmuV UD FchLI? P'* Afr,Ca ” ’ <li. lion on thin point I hit alld defy contra- !■

A PROPOSITION TO ENCOURAGE IT. Hero was a direct proposition for an investigating committee, to be composed of seven Senators witli a view of encouraging and promoting the migration of colored persons into the Northern States and Territories. It was the first ever made in either bran h of Congress, and was regarded at the time as a harmless novelty. On the 7th of February, less than a month later, however, the Senator from Minnesota addressed the Senate in support of his resolution making a very elaborate and carefully prepared speech. In this remarkable speech, ho deplored what he styled the shameful failure of the Government to vindicate our citizeaship within our own borders and, assuming that the negro was deprived of his constitutional rights in the Southern States, advised him to goelsewhere. A new Canaan, in the rich language of the Bible, was proclaimed by the Senator from Minnesota to the fervid imagination of the negroes if they would arise and leave their present habitations. A Moses was also promised them in express words bv the Senator to lead them by thousands to the new Canaan which he described. He hires them into his scheme by saying that the privilege of taking from forty to eighty acres of good land should be extended to millions of colored people, and that they should > have their land in a locality suited to their wants. As to the expense of such movement the Senator treats it lightly. lie says: “If it should cost a few millions to provide the territory for them, who would weigh that fact in the balance against a solution es the most perplexing and dangerous problem that menaces our future as a nation, the performance of partial but tardy justice to a race, and the permanent pacitlcation of the country?’’ Again, the Senator says: m°H BtOOd ,bat " nrh R P lac «' *" ’’•'“dy f<N “‘‘ulster.. of their various